Picture courtesy of Nats320 - internal citations omitted
So the Nationals invaded Baltimore in anticipation of their weekend series at The Yard this weekend. Remember how the Orioles maintained their team store in Farragut Square for the first three years of the Nationals' existence? Remember how Peter Angelos was successful in blocking Washington viewers from actually being able to watch their hometown baseball team on television, thus limiting the exposure the Nationals received in the D.C. area until his MASN network could take over the monopoly?
Well yesterday, "The Rushmores" (the new collective name for The Racing Presidents) and Screech invaded The Inner Harbor in a P.R. move slightly along the lines of the United States dropping millions of leaflets over Baghdad about the evils of Saddam Hussein. The Rushmores handed out free Presidential bobbleheads to kids at the Harbor (free tip kids... Ebay those things if you haven't cracked the box yet... especially the Teddy Roosevelt bobblehead). They all posed for pictures. And they stood alongside Pratt Street and along the Inner Harbor carrying the following signs:
Teddy - "I'll race the Oriole bird and beat him" (reference to the shtick of Teddy Roosevelt always losing the President's Race by a mile)
George - "I cannot tell a lie, the Nats will win."
Then it gets nasty...
Abe - "Honestly, the Nats will sweep Baltimore, hun."
and finally Tom - "Old Bay Stinks!!"
There was some booing and heckling by Baltimoreans which I respect, but far less than I expected. But you know what? I think J-Red might even agree with me on this... what we saw yesterday is FANTASTIC for baseball in the Washington-Baltimore corridor. For the past three years, we've been hearing how this doesn't feel like a rivalry yet and that it will take some spark to make this into a true rivalry along the lines of Giants-A's, Dodgers-Angels (teams that are about the same proximity from each other as the Nats and O's). Well, yesterday the Nats fired the first shot across the bow. I've been shocked at how pleasantly I've been treated when I've gone to Camden Yards wearing my Nats stuff. I actually can't wait for the day when I catch hell for wearing Nats stuff at the Yard, and O's fans likewise are given lots of grief by Nats fans when they come down to South Capitol Street.
J-Red and I are trying to work out a bet for this series. Suggestions?
6 Responses:
It's not a rivalry because it's an ownership-commissioner based rivalry. We recognize that the Nats are the same putrid sack of pus that we are. Granted, both teams manage to flirt with .500 once in a while, but really not much is changing year after year. It's hard to have a rivalry when it absolutely doesn't matter.
Plus, what are we supposed to do? Throw feces at likenesses of four of the most beloved presidents? Or perhaps a (retarded looking) bald eagle? That's not going to happen anywhere except Philly.
I just scored free tix to the game tonight. I'll be doing my best to feul a rivalry. With the $$ I'm saving on tix I may even be able to spill an entire beer on an 8 yr old Nats fan. Let's get it on!!
And I was just about to say that Baltimore is actually very friendly to road fans, even Steelers fans for the most part. I think the city still has a "See, it's not that bad!" approach to outsiders.
Isn't it obvious what the bet should be? J-Red has to sing Hail to the Redskins or you have to sing a Ravens song. Do the Ravens have a song?
Ben, my suggestion was he sings Orioles Magic on video for the blog and I would sing Nuts for the Nats. Jeremy declined my bet.
Mostly I think it's because he has a horrible singing voice.
And the Ravens have a song. It's not bad, but the words are hard to remember. I don't know it by heart.
We should have chosen something with only one repetitive verse like the Skins did. The Ravens' song is more like a college fight song.
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